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What positive effect(s) will this have on you?

These are extremely stressful times and there's obviously a lot of negativity out there so I thought I'd ask a question to try and spin it a little differently:

What positive effects has this had on you? Will you make any changes for the better when things start to return to 'normal'?

Some things I can think of for myself:

  1. I just recently moved across the country and all of this has really solidified the feelings I had that I will eventually move back to be closer to my family.

  2. I have heard from friends who have lost their incomes over night. I'm lucky to still be working at this time but know it's not something I can count on forever. It's a clear reminder of why I became interested in financial independence and makes me want to work even harder to finally see an income from the work I do as an indie hacker.

  3. For a while I've teetered on the edge of continuing my career as a software engineer or perhaps pivoting to something else that I find more meaningful/interesting (even if it means a pay cut) and I think this may have been the push that I needed to take these thoughts more seriously.

  4. This has really renewed my energy for BJJ and working out in general. I'm really excited to get back to the mats and get some rolls in!

I'd love to hear from others!

  1. 2

    For my work, it's been busier than ever. I freelance as a software developer who focuses especially on video chat and marketplaces and the inquiries have tripled in the last few weeks. I know how lucky that makes me especially in times like this so I'm very grateful.

    For my own side projects, I'm building Uplink Video (https://uplink.video) now to hopefully make video chat easier for a lot of people I know who can't afford to hire people like me right now.

    I'm spending more time with my family - which at times can drive us crazy! - but I kind of love it. It's nice to get so much more time with them.

    1. 1

      That's great to hear!

      I'm interested in the freelance work you're doing, I didn't realize there was such a demand for video chat outside of the major players you hear about.

      1. 1

        The thing about video chat is that there's basically 2 ways people and companies use it right now:

        1. They go to the video chat and it's totally outside of their control and brand (zoom, hangouts, Skype, etc).

        2. You build your own video chat from scratch, or near scratch, which is a huge undertaking.

        Companies and organizations like govt and education are scrambling to get video chat going, but almost all of the off the shelf stuff out there is of type 1, which they don't really want to do, especially with Zoom being blasted in the media for security and shady practices. Most are not capable or willing to go route 2 either.

        I've built video chat from scratch as well as used all of the major video chat APIs for the last 7 years, often for orgs that talk to each other. So now they're going "who can get this done for us in a white label fashion" and their friends in a different dept or org refer them my way. It helps that I've already cleared security checks and onboarding for other govt orgs, that's basically all the social proof I need when they call.

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